Tracking the international spread of SARS-CoV-2 lineages B.1.1.7 and B.1.351/501Y-V2

The COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium, Áine O'Toole*, Moritz U.G. Kraemer, Verity Hill, Oliver G. Pybus, Alexander Watts, Issac I. Bogoch, Kamran Khan, Jane P. Messina, Houriiyah Tegally, Richard R. Lessells, Jennifer Giandhari, Sureshnee Pillay, Kefentse Arnold Tumedi, Gape Nyepetsi, Malebogo Kebabonye, Maitshwarelo Matsheka, Madisa Mine, Sima Tokajian, Hamad HassanTamara Salloum, Georgi Merhi, Jad Koweyes, Jemma L. Geoghegan, Joep de Ligt, Xiaoyun Ren, Matthew Storey, Nikki E. Freed, Chitra Pattabiraman, Pramada Prasad, Anita S. Desai, Ravi Vasanthapuram, Thomas F. Schulz, Lars Steinbrück, Tanja Stadler, Antonio Parisi, Angelica Bianco, Darío García de Viedma, Sergio Buenestado-Serrano, Vítor Borges, Joana Isidro, Sílvia Duarte, João Paulo Gomes, Neta S. Zuckerman, Michal Mandelboim, Orna Mor, Torsten Seemann, Alicia Arnott, Jenny Draper, Mailie Gall, William Rawlinson, Matthew Bashton, Darren Smith, Andrew Nelson, Greg Young, Clare McCann

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

115 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Late in 2020, two genetically-distinct clusters of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) with mutations of biological concern were reported, one in the United Kingdom and one in South Africa. Using a combination of data from routine surveillance, genomic sequencing and international travel we track the international dispersal of lineages B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 (variant 501Y-V2). We account for potential biases in genomic surveillance efforts by including passenger volumes from location of where the lineage was first reported, London and South Africa respectively. Using the software tool grinch (global report investigating novel coronavirus haplotypes), we track the international spread of lineages of concern with automated daily reports, Further, we have built a custom tracking website (cov-lineages.org/global_report.html) which hosts this daily report and will continue to include novel SARS-CoV-2 lineages of concern as they are detected.

Original languageEnglish
Article number121
Pages (from-to)1-14
Number of pages14
JournalWellcome Open Research
Volume6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 May 2021

Keywords

  • Air travel
  • B.1.1.7
  • B.1.351
  • Coronavirus
  • Genome sequencing
  • Genomic epidemiology
  • Genomic surveillance
  • Genomics
  • N501Y
  • Pandemic
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Sequencing
  • Surveillance
  • Virus

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